Friday, December 01, 2006

Kevin over at LAOBSERVED links to the above story that surveys both Los Angeles and the impending fate of the LA TIMES. Good reading, other than several factual errors, of course, the worst of which is below:

The paper's circulation area spans a territory the size of Ohio, over five counties and 88 cities and through a veritable United Nations of neighborhoods -- Iranians next to Koreans near Armenians close to Thais across the county from Vietnamese abutting African Americans near Jews surrounded by Hispanics of all nationalities and political stripes.

And, of course, LA County alone has 88 cities - and the five counties combined have closer to 200 cities. And while Armenians are next to Thais, Koreans in Koreatown are not next to Iranians in Westwood, so while general point is right, not all the exact specifics are.

The best/worst part of the story is at the very end.

In his opening remarks Nov. 13, the new editor, Jim O'Shea, the former managing editor of the Chicago Tribune, told staffers that he didn't know how long he'd be in the position and that his family had not joined him in Los Angeles, according to a video of the address made available on the Times Web site.

"You all know . . . sometime after the first of the year we are probably going to have new owners," O'Shea said. "And that could be a lot better for everybody here. But don't kid yourself, it could also be worse -- a lot worse."

Rutten said O'Shea's comments were telling. "I don't think anyone could have ever imagined that we would have someone here as editor whose . . . family is not going to be here and who says he himself doesn't know how long he's going to be around," Rutten said.